noun / verb

cobweb

KAHB-web/ˈkɑːbweb/

A fine, tangled spider web, often dusty.

A dusty cobweb stretches across the corner of the window.

Dusty abandoned spider web stretches across an indoor wooden window corner with visible fine strands and dust, no spider required.

Etymology

The “head” element survives from an old name for a spider, literally “poison-head.” Combined with web, it gives the straightforward meaning “spider's web,” now often used for a dusty indoor one.

In context

Angela Brown Cleaning1:03

there's dust on the spider web, it's no longer sticky to attract bugs. And so, the spider will abandon that spider web and it now becomes a cobweb.

Spiderweb vs. Cobweb - What You Need to know

More examples

She brushes a cobweb off the porch light.
Cobwebs hang between the rafters in the old shed.
The unused doorway is cobwebbed from top to bottom.

Forms

cobweb · cobwebs · cobwebbed · cobwebbing

Similar words

web: Can name any network, not just a dusty spider web.
spiderweb: Specifies a spider's web without suggesting dust or neglect.